The economics of Easter

This Easter will be a fiscally fit one: The National Retail Federation’s Easter Spending Survey, which polled 5,050 consumers from March 5-11, projects total Easter spending for 2013 will reach $17.2 billion. The average person celebrating Easter will spend $145.13 on candy, décor, apparel, and food, just 15 cents under last year’s $145.28, the survey projects.

Here’s a breakdown of what America can expect to spend on marshmallow peeps, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and other Easter goodies this year.
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Most of the money Americans spend on Easter will go toward food. The National Retail Federation survey found 86.9 percent of Easter celebrators will spend on average $45.26 on items they need to get their meal together.
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Easter has always been a kickoff point for spring shopping, and this year is projected to be no different. The 48.4 percent of consumers projected to buy clothes this Easter will spend an average of $25.91 on bright new outfits for their kids, and maybe something new for themselves too, the survey said.
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Just Born

The number one nonchocolate Easter candy for more than 20 years, Peeps is owned by Pennsylvania-based company Just Born. The company said it will sell over 1 billion of the little marshmallow animals this Easter season. Yellow is the best-selling Peeps color, followed by pink, lavender, blue, green, and orange.
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Nine in 10 consumers surveyed will buy Easter candy. An average of $20.66 will be spent on jelly beans, chocolate, and other candy.
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It’ll be a relatively thrifty Easter gift season: consumers will spend $20.82 on gifts, $9.49 on flowers, and $9.11 on decorations.
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When considering how we spend and what we spend our money on, it’s also important to note where we make these purchases. The survey said 43.3 percent of smartphone owners surveyed will use their mobile phones to look up store and product information, compare prices, and purchase items. Fifty-one percent of tablet owners will do the same. And 14.3 percent of smartphone users said they would purchase Easter-related products with their phones, a figure that is 22.1 percent for tablet users.
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This year, getting quality items on the cheap will be consumers’ top priority: 63.4 percent of consumers will shop at discount stores, and 40.7 percent will shop at a favorite department store.
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